Last week, I posted ("Book Burning") on the contested election to head UNESCO. The Egyptian candidate, Farouk Hosny, the initial front-runner, came under fire for having said he'd be willing to burn Israeli books. I joined the attack. The voting went five heated rounds, with representatives from Madagascar, Nigeria, Lebanon and Pakistan thought to have been replaced because they did not want to vote for Hosny. Reports surfaced that Hosny, once an Egyptian diplomat in Rome, helped to organize the 1985 escape from Italy of the Achille Lauro hijackers. In the end, Irina Bokova, a Bulgarian, came from behind to win. I'm no friend of UNESCO, but I'll celebrate her victory. The Egyptian's response? Yup, he blamed the Jews. (AP: "Egyptian minister blames Jews for UNESCO loss").Comment: I posted a warning that election of Farouk Hosny might result in retaliation by the U.S. Congress. In part I wrote the piece to explain that, in my opinion, it would be totally appropriate for the U.S. Permanent Representative to UNESCO to explain the likely repercussions of the election to his colleagues in Paris. Representative Royce's posting illustrates that there was interest in the Congress in the election, that there is opposition to UNESCO in the Congress, and I think supports my guess.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Rep. Ed Royce on the UNESCO DG Election
The following was posted on a Congressional blog by the Republican member of the House of Representatives from very conservative Orange County California:
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4 comments:
"Helping the Achille Lauro hijackers to escape".
Time to put this last red herring to rest. Farouk Hosny was indeed head of the Egyptian Cultural Academy in Rome at the time of the hijacking. He was asked to accommodate some of the Egyptian CREW of the vessel in the apartments belonging to the Academy as there were far too many of them to be put up at the Embassy. He had no role whatsoever in helping a single Palestinian hijacker do anything, let alone escape from Italy. THIS is the scoop Al Elaph sprang on the voters on Monday and that the lobbies used to swing some four European states over to Bokova's side. Would the diplomats responsible for this charade now like to stand up and apologise for their witless gullibility in falling for the last and deadliest ruse of the anti-Hosny lobbies?
As for your warning about how Congress might react if Hosny had been elected, it's a little like informing the world that the earth is round and not flat. The Representative whom you quote is cut from the same slavishly pro-Israel cloth as Howard Berman and the late Tom Lantos and a key figure in ensuring that Congress remains Israeli-occupied territory long after Palestine becomes an independent state. Why do I mention Berman and Lantos, you may ask? Ask David Killion, since he spent most of his political career working in their private offices. And he seems to have had considerable difficulty, in his new diplomatic posting in Paris, shaking off some old and very bad habits. At least Serge Klarsfeld has the insight to understand this. Why can't you?
I reported more extensively elsewhere on the charge that Farouk Hosny actively participated in enabling the escape of the Achille Lauro terrorists.
I don't know if the charge is true, and unless my anonymous correspondent is Farouk Hosny himself (which I very strongly doubt), I suppose he doesn't either.
It is a pretty big cloth that included the material for liberal Democrat Howard Berman and conservative Republican Ed Royce!
That comment is both uninformed and silly.
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